Expertus, a global provider of services that optimize the business impact
of learning, has found that, although many organizations are taking cover
and freezing their activities as a result of economic hardship, many
learning executives now see promise and opportunities.

According to the white paper, "The emergent winners use recessionary times
to innovate and widen the gap between themselves and their competition.
While many companies slash payrolls, place product development on hold, and
take a wait-and-see position in their markets, the true 'winners'
strategically increase productivity and prepare to come out ahead when the
good times return." Forward-thinking companies who take this position are
therefore required to keep the training engine running at full speed.

The roundtable group, which included learning leaders from a broad spectrum
of businesses, compared insights on key issues facing the industry and
shared ideas about not only surviving, but thriving in this tough economy.

The white paper states, "The interesting dichotomy of the current business
climate is that it's creating an increased demand for training.
Organizations are making hard decisions about what stays and what goes.
They are making sure that at the end of this recession, their learning
organization and the company is stronger and better than it was before."

When asked how to endure and advance during these tough times, the
following pieces of advice surfaced:

CIO, CTO & Developer Resources

-- Create a Teaching Culture. One participant from the knowledge service
industry noted that this is an extremely effective and economical method
for training the workforce.
-- Shift to Virtual and e-Learning. Roundtable participants earmarked e-
learning as a critical training tool in a cost-conscious business climate,
offering an opportunity to create programs that ensure excellence without a
loss of productivity.
-- Encourage and Integrate Informal and Collaborative Learning. Borrowing
from successful social media technology, the use of blogs, webinars, wikis,
white papers, and peer-to-peer training helps to ensure that organizations
have access to the training they need at any given moment.
-- Re-negotiate Contracts with Vendors. Keeping current partners is much
easier and economical than finding new ones, but many roundtable
participants agreed that this should to be done with caution.
-- Align, Prioritize, and Cut. Understand your objectives, align training
with the business, and reduce headcount intelligently.

Expertus recently released another white paper entitled "Top 5 Ways to
Ready Your Training Organization for a Troubled Economy," available at
www.trainingefficiency.com

Five additional roundtable discussions are planned for 2009. To find the
latest results from each roundtable discussion, visit
http://www.TrainingEfficiency.com. To inquire about participating in a
roundtable discussion, please contact Gordon Johnson at
[email protected]. For information on Expertus, please visit
www.expertus.com or call Mike Murrell at 803-802-9971.

About Expertus

Expertus is the leading global provider of services that optimize the
business impact of learning. For more than a decade, the firm's 500+
learning management professionals have defined and implemented plans,
processes and technologies that transform training organizations --
creating measurable value for the world's most successful corporations.
Clients include ADP, Cisco, ConocoPhillips, EMC, Honeywell and Lockheed
Martin. Every day at these and other companies, more than a million
employees, customers and business partners are educated as a result of
Expertus' innovative business strategies, outsourcing services and
technology-rich solutions.

Based in Silicon Valley, Expertus serves its clients from offices in the
US, UK and India. For more information, visit www.expertus.com, or call
toll-free 1-877-827-8160.

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